Such cell is known from DE-A-23 55 876, where the cathode side and the anode side are held together by spring elements. The DE-A-44 38 692 (corresponding to U.S. application Ser. No. 08/549,014filed Oct. 27, 1995, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,867) and also the U.S. Pat. No. 5,248,398 disclose electrolytic cells by means of which metals are recovered from an electrolyte. What is disadvantageous in the known cells is the fact that each bipolar electrode can only completely be withdrawn from the cell, as the anode side is rigidly connected with the cathode side of the electrode. It is therefore the object underlying the invention to design one or several of the bipolar electrodes such that the desired electrode portion can be handled more or less independent of the other portion.
In the above-mentioned electrolytic cell the object is solved in accordance with the invention in that the bipolar electrode is designed to be separable, and the cathode side or the anode side is designed to be withdrawn from the electrolyte. The cathode side and the anode side are no longer inseparably coupled with each other mechanically, and one of the two electrode sides can be removed from the cell, whereas the other electrode side remains in the cell. One, several or all of the bipolar electrodes of the cell are thus designed to be separable.